Seven

We walked out of the building, away from all the lines and crowds. It was still kind of hard to hear them above the sound of traffic and passing people, but it was better than inside.

“Okay, so the good news is,” Carolina said, “Zeina, Emma, and I are all in the same building, only a few floors away from each other. The bad news is…”

My friends all turned to look at me. I stared down at my feet. Why did I have to be the one in a whole separate building from everyone else? It wouldn’t have been so bad if the buildings were right next to each other, but according to the map, building A was on the entire other side of Washington Square from building C. I had to walk through a whole park to get to my friends!

“I’m sure we can all meet up elsewhere on campus,” Zeina said, trying her best to be reassuring. “There’s probably a cafeteria, right? Just like back at school. And we can also still go to the other cool places we wanted to go together while we’re in the city, like the Met or Central Park!”

Emma patted me on my back. “Yeah, we’ll still see you around, Gigi,” she said.

“It really sucks that they didn’t tell us you have to be in the same specialty as your roommate,” Carolina said. “I’ve never shared my room before, much less with a stranger.”

“Me neither,” Emma said with a shrug. “But I feel like it could be fun! I hope my roommate is cool.”

“I just hope whoever rooms with me is respectful,” Zeina said, matter-of-factly. “Like my sisters were and Gigi was in the times she slept over.”

I looked sadly at Zeina. “I was hoping Starscape could be like our sleepovers.”

Zeina matched my frown. “Me too! But it’s okay. We can get through this!”

“Well, I guess we should get going,” Carolina said, grabbing her suitcase. “Let’s keep each other updated via the group chat!”

“Right.” Zeina grabbed her things too. And so did Emma.

“Since Gigi has to walk across the park by herself, I’ll walk her to her dorm and then head over to my sister’s,” Ms. Chang said. “I’m sorry to hear about the roommate situation, girls, but I hope you all still have a wonderful time. Remember, I’ll be just a fifteen-minute subway ride away, so please feel free to text or call if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Zeina said. “Thank you, Ms. Chang!”

“Thanks, Mom!” Emma waved bye to her mom before she, Carolina, and Zeina set off in the opposite direction as me, to building C.

Before they were completely out of earshot, Emma looked back at me and waved. “Good luck, Gigi!” she exclaimed. “Don’t die!”

“Emma!” Ms. Chang gasped in horror.

“Don’t even joke like that!” Carolina yelled. “Your mom is going with her. She’ll be fine.”

“She’s feeling bad about everything as it is!” Zeina hissed. “Let’s not make things worse than they already are for her!”

With a sad smile, I waved bye to my friends and made the long trek across the park to building A with Ms. Chang. It probably wasn’t that long, actual distance-wise, but because I had to walk away from my friends, it felt like I was going several miles away.

When I finally arrived at the building, I took a moment to gawk at how tall it was. Since my room number was 1613, I was probably on the sixteenth floor. Aside from when I stayed in my relatives’ apartments in Korea, this was the first time I would be sleeping in such a tall building.

The one piece of good news was that all the rooms seemed to have windows. Even though it sucked that I was far away from all my friends, I was looking forward to the view of the city I’d have from my room.

“Best of luck, Gigi,” Ms. Chang said after she walked me to the front entrance of the dorm. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, but in case you’re not, please don’t hesitate to text or call.”

“I definitely will,” I said. “Thanks, Ms. Chang.”

We waved bye and I entered the building. It took me a while to find where I was supposed to go, but soon enough, I was standing in front of room 1613.

Slowly, I opened the door. The room was smaller than my bedroom in Texas, but instead of just one bed, there were two squeezed in together. Aside from the beds, there was nothing much other than two desks, a microwave, and a mini-fridge. On the right side of the room, another Asian girl was already unpacking her stuff onto her desk. I assumed she was Korean, like me, because she was singing loudly in Korean while wearing a pair of big pink headphones. She must have had her volume way up since she didn’t look up as I came in.

Not wanting to scare her, I slowly approached and waved my hand. But even when I was a few inches away from her, she still didn’t notice me.

I tapped her on her shoulder. “Hi! My name is—”

She screamed, flinging her headphones off and leaping onto her bed.

I blushed, my finger still hovering in the air where her shoulder had been just moments ago.

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry. I’m Gigi. I’m your roommate. It’s nice to meet you!”

The girl made a face, like I was speaking too loud. “Gi… gi?” she asked, sounding out my name slowly. “That’s a name? My name is Sohee. Choi Sohee.”

I bit my lip but tried my best to still sound friendly. “Yup! My full name is Ji-young. Ji-young Shin.”

Sohee’s mouth made an O shape. “Oh, you’re Korean too? Hanguk mal hal jul ara?”

I hung out with my cousins back in Seoul enough times to know that she’d said, “Can you speak Korean?”

“A little,” I said. “But I was born and raised in Texas, so not really.”

“Texas!” Sohee’s eyes went wide. “There are Korean people in Texas?”

“Quite a lot, actually!” I said. “I used to go to Korean school, and my family and I go to a Korean church. My parents also own a Korean grocery store.”

“Grocery store?” Sohee asked with a frown. “Is that like a Super?”

I recognized that word from when I hung out with my cousins. Super, or shu-puh, like it was pronounced in Korean, was what some people called grocery stores.

“Yeah!”

Sohee made a face again, as if she thought I was weird. My heart fell. It’d been only five minutes and my roommate already thought I was strange. What had gone wrong?

“Um,” I said, belatedly remembering that I hadn’t asked Sohee about herself. “Where are you from?”

“Seoul” was all she said before she put her headphones back on.

Sohee and I didn’t talk for the rest of the day as we unpacked and settled into our own sides of the room. Occasionally, as I got out my clothes and the rest of my things, I saw Sohee silently glancing over at me. I tried my best to keep my eyes glued to my own stuff, looking back at her only through my peripheral vision.

I texted my parents to let them know I’d safely arrived at my dorm, sent Paul an “I miss you” message on KakaoTalk, and then checked in with my friends in the group chat. But no one replied right away. It was four a.m. in Korea, so I didn’t expect Paul to reply, and I guess everyone else was busy going about their day.

I’d never felt more alone in my life.

I touched the bracelet Paul had given me on the last day of school. Well, at least I knew I wasn’t completely alone. Not really.

I was about to get out my sketchbook and draw when I got an incoming video call from Paul. After checking to see that Sohee still had her headphones on, I accepted the call.

“Hey,” Paul said when I picked up. His surroundings were dark, and I could barely make out his face. But I could still see his big, warm smile. I felt instantly better.

“Hey!” I greeted him. “Isn’t it four a.m. in Korea right now?”

“Yeah,” Paul replied. “But I’m still so jet-lagged, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night. How’s NYC?”

“Good!” I answered automatically. But then I paused and said, “Well, the city is awesome. It still feels so surreal, in a good way. But… my friends and I all got split up, and I’m the only one from our friend group who is in this entire building. It’s a whole park away from my friends. So that kind of sucks.”

I wanted to go on and tell him about my awkward encounter with Sohee, but I didn’t in case she was listening in.

“Aw man,” Paul said, sounding genuinely disappointed for me. “That does really suck. I hope you can make new friends in your building, though. But if not, the camp is only a few weeks long, right?”

“It’s a month long, but yeah,” I said half-heartedly. Normally, I’d be eager to make new friends, but after Sohee’s and my awkward encounter, I wasn’t so sure I could make any anymore. My confidence was at an all-time low. “I never thought I’d say this, but I kind of miss Texas.”

“Hang in there!” Paul said. “And feel free to call me whenever you get lonely. Or text, whichever is easier. I can’t guarantee I’ll always answer right away, but I’ll reply whenever I get the chance.”

I smiled, feeling a lot better than I had before he called. “Thanks, Paul. What are you up to today? When everyone else is up, I mean.”

“Honestly? I’m probably just going to eat a lot of good food. My entire family is jet-lagged, not just me, so the only thing we have planned today is to go to the night market later to eat some street food.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun! Be sure to take lots of pics!”

“Will do,” said Paul with a smile.

We were about to hang up when he lifted his left wrist so I could see his bracelet.

“Hey,” he said. “By the way, I thought of you a lot today—well, I guess it’s technically yesterday now since it’s the middle of the night. But you know what I mean. I miss you lots.”

“I miss you, too,” I said. “The bracelet is helping, though. It’s making me feel less lonely. Thanks again for the good idea.”

“You’re welcome. Be sure to send me lots of pics of what you’re up to, okay? I want to know all about Starscape and your classes and stuff.”

I nodded. I wished I could squeeze Paul’s hand. But since I couldn’t right now, I squeezed my bracelet instead.